


Heroes and Alliances

by transdisneyprince



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Captain America - All Media Types, DCU, Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Elementary School, Crossover Pairings, Gotham Academy, M/M, Multi, Puppy Love, marvel/dc crossover - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-18
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2019-02-03 21:45:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12756777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transdisneyprince/pseuds/transdisneyprince
Summary: Steve Rogers is a transfer student at Gotham Academy and finds friendship in an unlikely place. Bruce Wayne is trying to find some normalcy in his life after losing his parents in Crime Alley and happens upon a bullied transfer student. With trouble brewing in and around the school, Steve and Bruce work together to bring some good back to Gotham City.





	Heroes and Alliances

It rained the day after Bruce’s parents died.

It was a downpour. No thunder or lightning—just a steady, persistent rain that would have soaked the orphaned 8-year-old if it weren’t for the diligent care of his new primary guardian.

“Step lively, Master Bruce,” said Alfred Pennyworth as he held a large, black umbrella over their heads. “It seems class is already in session.”

Bruce trotted silently through the puddles on the sidewalk with his head hung low and his tiny hand tucked inside his butler's glove. It was the only part of Bruce that wasn't chilled to the bone.

"Mind the step," said Pennyworth. "We're nearly there."

Bruce stepped over the threshold into the foyer of Gotham Academy as his butler collapsed their umbrella. The hallways were mostly empty since classes had already begun, and the only person in sight was a middle-aged receptionist. Bruce kicked the rainwater from his designer shoes as Pennyworth brought him to the front desk to check him in.

"All of the teachers have been notified that Bruce is to be excused for his tardiness, Mister Pennyworth," said a portly woman behind the counter. "I read what happened last night in this morning’s paper. Just terrible what happened to Thomas and Martha Wayne. This school won’t be the same without their generous donations.”

"Yes, well," muttered Pennyworth. "As the new executor of the Wayne Estate, I'll personally see to it that Gotham Academy continues to receive its usual contributions in foreseeable future."

Bruce hadn't entirely understood the magnitude of what had happened at the movie theater last night. He knew that his father hadn't been there to help him with his homework for the first time in recent memory. He also knew that his mother hadn't been there to tuck him into bed like she always had. Alfred had tried his best to explain to Bruce that Thomas and Martha Wayne were gone and that he would be doing those things for Bruce now. But Bruce couldn't even imagine that. It just couldn't be true.

His parents had been hurt by that man in the alleyway.

They had been knocked out by two loud bangs.

But they would be back soon.

They _had_ to be back soon.

Quickly losing interest in Alfred's conversation with the receptionist, Bruce wandered down the hallway and around a corner. Then he saw a boy his age with his school uniform ripped to tatters and mud stains on his school bag. The unfamiliar boy wiped his wet, ruddy face with his forearm and ducked into a boys’ bathroom. Bruce decided, on a whim, to follow him.

When he pushed open the bathroom door, Bruce saw the boy from before standing at the marble sink. His blonde hair was wet and matted with dirt, and he was scrubbing his ruined bag with a fistful of wet paper towels; all the while fighting back his tears with quiet, repressed sobs.

"Hello?" Bruce cautiously called out to him, and the boy was startled to attention.

The blonde boy glared at him.

"Did Lex send you?" the boy asked, accusingly.

Bruce closed the bathroom door behind him with a confused look. "No," he said. "Lex didn’t send me. I saw you in the hallway and I wanted to help. I'm Bruce. Bruce Wayne."

The blonde boy considered that for a second and then went back to scrubbing at his bag.

“You say that like I should know who you are,” said the boy with a huff.

Bruce looked down at the tiled floor, stunned at how the boy hadn't instantly recognized him. Everyone usually did-- especially in Gotham City. The boy hadn’t even recognized Bruce’s family name. That was practically unprecedented.

"What's your name?" asked Bruce.

The boy gave an exasperated sigh when the stains refused to come out of his bag. He threw the soiled paper towels into a nearby trashcan and finally gave Bruce his full attention.

“Steve,” he said. “My name is Steve Rogers. I moved here last week.”

Bruce didn’t recognize that name—hadn’t heard his parents ever use that surname. Steve wasn’t from a family of business owners or politicians, then.

“Did Lex do that to your bag?”

Steve sniffled and swiped at his face with the back of his hand. “Not personally,” he said. “Three of his friends did it, I think. Lex has been giving me trouble since my first day at this school.”

Bruce traversed the bathroom and joined Steve at the sink. He pulled a silk handkerchief out of his pocket and ran some warm water over it.

“Your face got scratched,” Bruce said. “Do you mind if I clean it up for you?”

Steve gave him a bewildered look. “You… You don’t have to do that,” he sputtered.

“I know,” Bruce said and dabbed at Steve’s scratched cheek.

Steve averted his blue eyes away from Bruce and flinched when the warm cloth touched his face.

“Lex is a bully,” said Bruce. “But he’ll lose interest in you and move on to another kid soon.”

Steve gripped at the sides of the sink behind him. “I don’t want that,” he said. “If Lex is gonna pick on someone, it might as well be me.”

Bruce was surprised by that statement; surprised enough to pull his handkerchief away from Steve’s face and look at him—truly look at him—for the first time. He was small—even smaller than Bruce-- almost like a girl in how pretty he managed to be despite all the mud and the dark bruise forming around his right eye.

Bruce wondered how Lex could be so cruel as to hurt someone like him.

“Master Bruce!”

Bruce was startled out of his thoughts and turned to see Alfred standing at the bathroom door. The butler quickly closed the distance between them and took his young ward by the shoulder.

“Your parents may have excused this kind of truancy from you, Master Bruce, but I’ll have you know that such delinquency is unacceptable in my book.”

Before he could be pulled away, Bruce left his handkerchief in Steve’s open hand, and Steve didn’t have time to argue before Bruce was led out of the bathroom by his fuming butler. After the door slammed shut behind them, Steve was left alone in the bathroom with only his racing thoughts to occupy him. A few moments later, Steve unfolded the handkerchief and saw that one of its corners was embroidered with a fancy, cursive ‘W’. It was probably the most expensive thing that Steve had ever held, and a boy that he had never met just ruined it to clean his face.

Steve turned to look at his reflection in the giant, golden mirror hanging on the wall, and was struck by the realization of just how out of place a poor boy from Brooklyn like himself seemed at Gotham Academy. He used the handkerchief to clean the rest of his face and then held the thing over the open trashcan. He hesitated-- not wanting to throw it away for some reason. Steve looked at the handkerchief again-- wrinkled and smeared with his own blood—and then carefully tucked it away into his pants pocket.

‘ _Maybe he'll want it back once I'm done with it,_ ' Steve thought. And with a resigned sigh, he hefted his shabby, hand-me-down knapsack onto his shoulder and left the bathroom to find his next class.


End file.
